Belarus, Having No Own Mines, Significantly Increases Coal Exports

"Belarusian" shrimps in exchange for Russian coal.

Belarus has significantly increased its coal exports. The country does not have its own coal mines, but has become one of the largest suppliers of this raw material to neighbouring Ukraine.

Belarus, without its own coal mines, receives coal from Russia and then sells it to Ukraine.

Naviny.by reported that in the first half of this year Belarus bought 1 million 350 thousand tons of coal from Russia. Of this, one million was sold to a neighbor outside the southern border. This is almost twice as much as last year.

As the newspaper explains, the growth of coal sales to Ukraine through Belarusian companies is the result of the rules introduced by Russia, which significantly complicate the sale of Russian coal directly to Ukraine.

Previously, some experts suggested that Belarusian companies could sell to Ukraine coal coming from Russia, which is actually mined in the separatist Donbass.